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The Vibe Collective : Real Talk. Real Music. Real Vibes. Each and every Saturday 3pm to 5pm on CIUT 89.5FM with DJ Jams, Jamaias DaCosta, Mali DocuVixen, Kemba King, Victoria Grant, and Adrian Worrell aka. DJ gryphen. THE VIBE COLLECTIVE IS AN ONGOING DIALOGUE ABOUT HIPHOP, ART, DECOLONIZATION, SOCIAL JUSTICE, IDENTITY, CAPITALISM, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE WAYS IN WHICH THESE THINGS INTERSECT, FOLLOWED BY AN HOUR OF MUSIC TO MOVE YOU. www.ciut.fm

An actor, physical theatre creator, writer, singer/songwriter, and arts educator, has performed and created classical, contemporary, and original work in Canada, the Netherlands, and India. She also shares vedic energy medicine, reiki & yogic medicine and is dedicated to dissolving the boundaries between art, traditional/ancient medicines, spirituality, and politics.

As a medicine sharer nisha extends immense gratitude to the many teachers and guides through her journey. She has been studying yoga and meditation since she was a child and more intensively since 1999. Her journey into energy work sprouted from there and she had been publicly sharing yoga, meditation, sound meditation, reiki, and energy work based in Vedic and Ayurvedic principles since 2012. While teachers and guidance have come from many nisha most recently studied with Reiki with Varsha & Ravi Hooja (Bombay, India), Attmic Healing with Manav Ji Sahaj (India), Ayuveda basics at CAISH (Centre of Ayurveda and Indian Systems of Healing, Toronto), and yogic medicine at Swami Vivekanada Ashram (Bangalore India).

Recently she was an actor with Canada’s National Arts Centre’s Resident Acting Company, toured her one-woman show Yoga Cannibal (Director Yvette Nolan, developed at Bad Times Theatre, Canada’s oldest Queer Theatre), was Assistant Director to Ken Gass for Factory Theatre’s production of Bethune Imagined, and an excerpt of her play (in development) Cycle of a Sari will be published in Playwright Canada Press’ anthology Refractions: Solo. Currently she is touring Un-settling, and developing TheBesetting of Reena Virk with Subtle Vigilance Collective, as well as Straight as Jalebi, celebrating gender bending and Queerness in South Asian Culture.

As an arts educator, nisha has had the privilege of facilitating workshops with a diverse range of youth in Canada and India with renowned theatre companies, urban and rural schools, as well as NGOs, grassroots community organizations, and post-secondary institutions such as University of Toronto, York University, Western University, Queens University, and Algonquin College.

nisha is working towards her debut album highlighting her soulful voice and sacred and political lyrics, and has been collaborating with Chandresh Vyas/Manav Ji Sahaj as path.nisa on their debut album Connections featuring Sanskrit Mantras, Classical Indian Flute, and Meditation Music both schedule to release in 2014. In 2012 & 2013 nisha recorded singles with Toronto Queer Hip Hop Movement catalyst MC Jazz, MC Manmeet Kaur (Bombay), and Nevin Rao in (NYC/San Francisco).

Partitioned from land and love in Sindh, and then to North America/Turtle Island, also Partitioned Indigenous land, Rani”s ashes were taken from her granddaughter, Asha, after she was cremated. Asha calls her to dreamland for answers. Rani doesn”t know what to tell her. Rani in the cosmos with other grandmothers from many places and times, roots into ancestral wisdom and her life during Partition & Indepdence of South Asia, while longing for her love Farrah to try to free herself and Asha.

Stuck in limbo. Petrified by the events of November 14, 1997. Bound inexorably to one another by rueful, adolescent choices. Based on the murder of Reena Virk committed by Kelly Ellard and Warren Glowatski, the characters of The Besetting battle one another on an existential playing field for the humanity they have been deprived of by one another and by society at large.

Reena’s own story is the only one we don’t hear in the vulturish telling and re-telling of her murder, and she is fighting to reclaim it. Warren admits to his part in Reena’s death, serves his time, and walks about today as a free man. Kelly continues to deny her part in this crime in which some 30 people had a direct hand, and for which she alone remains imprisoned.

In this world where power is the ultimate objective and the self is endemically pitted against the other in the quest for power, are these three souls doomed to perpetually fight for dominance over one another, or can they come to see one another for who they really are, and possibly even embrace one another’s otherness?

Since his ascension from local underground stardom to national fame in the past couple of years, Toronto’s best-kept secret Rich Kidd is now out in the open. With a landmark year that saw him spread his name all over the world, Rich has been steadily amassing praise from industry greats and music critics for his 360-degree musical vision: as a visionary artist, world-class producer, and electrifying performer. From his very first steps as a producer, Rich Kidd’s name has been synonymous with quality and it didn’t take long for him to get in the studio with the country’s best like Drake, Kardinal Offishall, K-os, Shad, and Saukrates, adding underground classics, commercial hits and award-winning projects to his resume. Letting the music speak for itself, Rich Kidd’s name and signature sound traveled the globe with his compilations We On Some Rich Kidd Shit Vol. 1-7, his beat tapes Kiddstrumentals Vol. 1 & 2 and with collaborative work under his belt with rap greats like Busta Rhymes, Redman, Raekwon, DMX, and Talib Kweli, each time bringing him closer into the radar of rap royalty. Whether it comes from joy or pain, sampled-based or entirely original, the constant with Rich Kidd’s sound is the attention to bass, giving a certain feel to his music that takes the listener on an emotional ride. Lyrically, his depth of vision and perspective mirrors the production style. A comedian and a realistic, he writes music that is above all human. In the past year, Rich Kidd has cemented his reputation on every front. His collaborative album The Closers with SonReal took him on the road for months, his solo project In My Opinion delivered his biggest singles to date with “Syke” and “I’d Be Lying”, Kiddstrumentals Vol. 2 and We On Some Rich Kidd Shit Vol. 7 cemented his stature as a producer, and Naturally Born Strangers a pioneering project with Toronto clothing line TheLegendsLeague showcased his range. Now with a debut album on the way, anticipation is sky high as there seems to be no limit to what the Kidd can do.